Florida man gets life in prison for fatal hate crime attack

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Jurors have convicted a Florida man in a hate-crime case of a Guatemalan man who was fatally beaten outside his home.

After the jury returned the first-degree murder verdict on Tuesday, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer sentenced 22-year-old David Harris to life in prison.

Prosecutors said Harris joined two other men in an attack on 18-year-old Onesimo Marcelino Lopez-Ramos, adding that they prowled the streets that night in 2015 looking to rob someone of Guatemalan heritage.

The SunSentinel reports Lopez-Ramos died when his skull was cracked by an axe-wielding Harris.

Harris and his attorney blamed the death and the hate-crime aspect on co-defendant Austin Taggart. Taggart and Harris’ younger brother Jesse will have separate trials later this year.